Nabbed the Culprit

I have a small tray of potted seedlings on my front porch. These are the perennials I’ve been nurturing along since my wintertime splurge from Swallow Tail Garden’s seed catalog: cherry Echinacea, Spanish lavender, yellow primrose. Something has been digging up the plants. Not every night; every once in a while, I’ll find one seedling dug up and thrown out of the pot. I’m down to one lavender because something really seemed to enjoy digging in the lavender pots. John blamed Pierre, but I couldn’t imagine that he’d have time on his daily outdoor jaunts to stop and dig in a pot. And besides, why would he? Okay, he’s a cat, and cats can be weird and spiteful. But Pierre isn’t a digger. Biting and pouncing yes, but digging – no.

So it was with surprise when all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place last night.  I stayed up late to watch the season finale of Dr. Who (I have been a huge fan, or Whovian, since they first appeared on the old Channel 9 broadcast station in New York on Saturday mornings when I was a kid; my sister Ann, brother Steve and I used to sit and watch them all morning long together.)  I flipped on the porch light, hooked up Shadow and prepared to take her out for her last potty break. A sudden movement among the pots in the tray caught my eye and soil flew to the left while something leaped to the right with a squeak.

Guess what?

My toad friends.

They were digging down into the moist soil.  I found one small one in a little depression he’d dug in the one remaining healthy pot of lavender. The really large one, the toad the size of a deck of playing cards, had hopped out of the other lavender that I’d noticed dug up the other day. When they leaped out, their strong back legs kicked out huge chunks of soil and uprooted the plants.

After I walked Shadow, I got out my watering can and filled the tray up with water. I left it for the toads, who were now hopping like mad to get off the porch, perhaps fearing for their lives.

We puzzled over their behavior for a while, but I think I’ve found the answer. With daily temperatures soaring over 100 degrees, the soil in the garden is like concrete despite our morning and evening watering regimen. The pots on the deck, however, are nice and moist; I baby them.  The poor toads have been digging down into the moist soil to keep themselves comfortable.

John suggested last night that we put out a tray of mud or plain water for the toads in the evening to keep them away from the pots and so I’m going to hunt through the recycle bin and see what I can come up with for them.  In the meantime, I can take down my “Wanted” poster; we nabbed the culprit who’s been digging up my seedlings!